Blog

Prayer is a most important concept in religion, and something that has been written and written and written about. I felt I had to say something about prayer in this blog.

Prayer flows naturally from my previous post about 'Abdu'l-Baha. Portals to Freedom - the book that led me to not just believe in Baha'u'llah but to fall in love with the Cause of God - is about a Unitarian Minister's encounter with 'Abdu'l-Baha (Baha'u'llah's son, and designated 'interpreter' of Baha'u'llah's own Writings). In it the Minister tells how 'Abdu'l-Baha taught him to pray by kneeling with him and praying silently and fervently (think of Mihaly's "flow"!) for hours.

To my best knowledge, the Baha'i Faith is unique among other religions in that the Prophet(s) of the Faith gave us a multitude of prayers to use. Prayer is said to be a 'conversation with God' so for some it might take some getting used to, to speak to God in someone else's words. I have found that these prayers actually do say what I mean in my heart, which is a wonderful miracle and a mystery! The more I reflect on them the more peace, compassion and patience I am able to muster when life gets difficult.

Shoghi Effendi (grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha, whom 'Abdu'l-Baha appointed in his Last Will and Testament to lead the Baha'i Faith) has also given wonderful (and more intellectual) advice about praying, particularly with regards to steps to take AFTER one prays. I don't have a thing to add to what he said, and I recommend the following article on BahaiTeachings.org on the topic: bahaiteachings.org/5-steps-for-transforming-prayer-into-action.

PS You don't have to look hard to find Baha'i prayers online. There's even an app for your smartphone with hundreds of prayers, in categories (and you can read them in different languages, too!) Life is A-Mazing.